#and recognize your limits and learn how to navigate them for instances where you will have to provide care to a dementia patient

[gardenstateofmind]

we need more disabled people working in healthcare, i truly believe that is the only way for it improve. even the well meaning people will still be limited by their lack of understanding, and god knows that far too many healthcare workers are not well meaning.

[webexpts]

How Site Architecture Affects SEO Performance

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing, where every pixel and line of code can influence a website’s visibility, the architecture of your site often plays a silent yet monumental role in determining SEO success. Site architecture—the structural design and organization of your website’s pages, links, and navigation—goes far beyond aesthetics and user experience; it forms the very backbone upon which search engines crawl, index, and ultimately rank your content.

Imagine your website as a sprawling city: intuitive streets, clear signposts, and well-connected pathways ensure visitors find what they are looking for quickly and easily. Conversely, a maze-like layout with confusing routes not only frustrates users but also leaves search engines confused, struggling to understand which pages are most important. This confusion can dramatically impact your site’s SEO performance, limiting organic traffic growth and diminishing your online presence.

In this blog, we will unravel the intricate relationship between site architecture and SEO, exploring why a thoughtfully structured website is crucial for search engines to recognize relevance, authority, and user satisfaction. From hierarchy and URL structures to internal linking and crawlability, you will learn how strategic design decisions shape your site’s potential to climb search engine results pages (SERPs). Whether you are launching a new website or aiming to optimize an existing one, understanding and refining your site architecture is a foundational step toward lasting SEO success.

What Is Site Architecture?

Site architecture refers to the way information is organized and structured on your website. It includes your website’s hierarchy, internal linking, URL structure, navigation, and how content is grouped.

A well-structured site helps:

Search engines crawl and index pages more efficiently

Users find information quickly

Reduce bounce rates and increase dwell time

Establish topical relevance and authority

Why Is Site Architecture Crucial for SEO?

Whether you are a startup or an enterprise-level business, your site’s architecture can make or break your visibility in search engines. Here is how:

1. Improved Crawlability and Indexation

Search engines use bots to crawl your site. If your architecture is disorganized or too deep (pages buried more than three clicks away from the homepage), crawlers may miss important content.

With the help of SEO services from a professional SEO agency, your site can be structured to ensure that all critical pages are easily accessible and indexable. This increases the chances of your pages appearing in search results.

2. Enhanced User Experience (UX)

Google rewards websites that offer a seamless and intuitive user experience. A solid architecture ensures that users can navigate your site effortlessly. This keeps them engaged longer, which sends positive signals to search engines.

By partnering with a website design & SEO services provider, you can create a site that’s not only visually appealing but also optimized for SEO performance from the ground up.

3. Efficient Internal Linking Strategy

A strong internal linking structure allows you to:

Distribute page authority (link juice)

Guide users to related content

Help search engines understand the relationship between pages

For instance, a blog post about “eCommerce SEO strategies” should internally link to service pages or related blogs, reinforcing topical relevance. An experienced website design & SEO agency can create a logical linking map that boosts both user experience and SEO value.

4. URL Structure and Keyword Relevance

Clean, keyword-rich URLs enhance click-through rates and facilitate an easier understanding of page content for both users and search engines.

Compare these:

https://webxpts.com/services/seo-services-for-real-estate-industry/

www.example.com/page?id=1234

Which one would you click? A properly planned architecture ensures URL consistency and alignment with your keyword strategy—a service you can expect from a reliable SEO agency.

5. Content Silos and Topical Authority

Organizing content into silos—clusters of related topics—helps build topical authority. This is particularly important for niche industries where demonstrating expertise is crucial.

For example, if your business offers various SEO services, having separate silos for local SEO, technical SEO, and on-page SEO will strengthen your position in each area and make your site more relevant in Google’s eyes.

Best Practices for SEO-Friendly Site Architecture

Here are a few industry best practices that every SEO agency should implement:

Use a Flat Architecture: Aim to keep important pages within 2-3 clicks from the homepage.

Create an XML Sitemap: Submit it to Google Search Console to aid indexing.

Use Breadcrumbs: They improve navigation and create structured internal links.

Responsive Design: Ensure your site works flawlessly on mobile devices.

Optimize Navigation Menus: Keep them simple, logical, and keyword-focused.

Common Mistakes That Hurt SEO Performance

Even with the best intentions, some sites fall into common traps:

Overly complex navigation

Orphaned pages (pages with no internal links pointing to them)

Duplicate content due to improper URL structures

Lack of schema markup

These issues can be identified and resolved through a site audit performed by a seasoned SEO agency.

How Website Design and SEO Work Together

Website design is not just about aesthetics; it’s about performance. When design and SEO collaborate from the start, the result is a site that’s beautiful, functional, and search-engine-friendly.

That’s why working with a website design services provider ensures you do not have to choose between form and function. An integrated approach ensures that every element—from layout and navigation to content structure—is strategically designed to align with and enhance your SEO objectives.

Final Thoughts

Your website’s architecture is more than a technical blueprint—it’s the foundation of your SEO success. Whether you are launching a new site or revamping an old one, partnering with a website design agency ensures your structure supports both user experience and search visibility.

If you are serious about increasing your organic traffic, do not overlook your architecture. You may contact an Expert SEO agency today to learn how our custom SEO services and website design services can transform your site’s performance from the ground up.

[turbidcurrent-images]

Drawbacks

There are a large number of problems you can run into when generating images that can really point out the failures in the model.

Plagiarism

Of course, the big one, image generation models are trained on extant images and will parrot back the styles they see. The only defense of this I have is that with a large enough sample size they just develop a vaguely generic style of their own and I never use artist names in prompts or style loras¹. That's the most ethical it is possible to be here, just never intentionally stealing art.

Bias

Of course, there's a limited amount of training data available, even with the boundless expanse of the Internet available. An LLM is only capable of drawing inferences based on the data it has, and will make those inferences based on the relations it sees in that data. Reference the multiple stories where models began racially profiling people, or the cancer detection model that learned that medical pictures of melanomas are taken with a ruler to indicate size of the tumor, so any picture with a ruler in shot must contain cancer.

Most models, when asked for a person, will give you a Caucasian. When asked for a furry, you'll usually get a dog. This can be worked around with explicit prompting.

Flesh Friends

LLMs don't know what things look like. They know that things that display these characteristics are often labeled in this manner, but they don't know that a dog has one head, two ears, four legs, and a tail arranged just so, so it has no qualms about making a horrible fleshcrafted monstrosity when you ask for a dog.

This is where negative prompting comes in, where we chant the mystical abjurations "deformed, mutated, ugly, disfigured, long body, bad anatomy, bad hands, missing fingers, extra digits, fewer digits, very displeasing, worst quality, bad quality, conjoined, bad ai-generated" and hope the model takes the hint. Usually this works to some degree. Better with more current models than earlier ones.

A model will also create additional figures in the scene if it feels like it needs to. For instance, if you have a furry with hooves in your prompt and decide to prompt for sneakers as well, the model will generate another character to wear those sneakers, because it does happen to know that sneakers don't go on hooves.

The Two-Body Problem

Even when you have a perfectly fine set of anatomy prompts, the model can't really recognize specific people. You can train a lora to regularly reproduce a character, and outside of that, using the same set of prompts will get you fairly regular results.

But all this goes out the window when dealing with two distinct people. The model will blithely swap characteristics like hair color, gender, clothing, specified body parts, and species around.

I've tried multiple different methods to try and block out individual identities, and the model still blends them. This is a known drawback, and so you don't really use multiple characters in a scene unless you're okay with the results this problem gets you.

Order vs. Chaos

Computers are famously known for being able to handle repetition and patterns, it's what we made them for. So it is fascinating to me when a model cannot keep the left and right sides of a desk consistent, or has a colonnade with columns that look like M.C. Escher tried meeting a deadline while drunk.

Contrariwise, it can do foliage, bushes, and similar chaotic systems well because the eye skips over any potential imperfections. Here:

Locally generated with the prompt "a battered military surplus jeep with a broken headlight navigating a muddy trail, photorealistic, driver in shadow, jungle, raining, wet, bokeh, moonless night, establishing shot, action shot, dynamic angle"

Observe, if you will, the weird shape of the tow hooks on top of the bumper. The windshield wipers at different angles and weirdly drippy. The odd greeble on the driver's side. Now check out the perfectly acceptable bushes and palm trees.

How could this happen to a perfectly good computer? Look at it. It's hallucinating.

¹A LoRA, or Low-Rank Adaptation, is a small, specifically-trained model that supplements the larger generator model. It can alter themes, reproduce characters, or provide particular elements for a scene.

[mcginnlawfirm]

How do you handle your limitations as an individual?

Navigating life's challenges involves facing your limitations head-on and finding ways to manage and overcome them. Everyone has areas where they feel constrained, whether due to physical, emotional, or situational factors. Acknowledging these challenges is not a sign of weakness; it’s a step toward growth and empowerment. Here’s a deeper dive into how you can effectively handle your limitations while building a path toward personal improvement and well-being.

Embrace Self-Reflection and Acceptance

The first step to overcoming any limitation is understanding it. This requires honest self-reflection.

Identify Your Limitations: Recognizing areas where you feel held back is essential. These might include physical constraints, such as recovering from an injury, or less tangible barriers, like self-doubt or lack of knowledge in a certain area. Journaling, self-assessments, or talking to trusted friends can help you pinpoint these areas.

Accept Reality: While it’s tempting to ignore or fight against your limits, acceptance allows you to work with them rather than against them. Understanding that every person faces limitations in some form can help you let go of feelings of inadequacy or frustration.

Acceptance doesn’t mean giving up. Instead, it’s about acknowledging your starting point so you can build from there.

Seek Support and Guidance

No one has to handle their limitations alone. People, resources, and professionals are available to help you navigate your journey.

Professional Help: If your challenges stem from an accident or injury, reaching out to a personal injury lawyer in Council Bluffs can be an important step. These professionals can guide you through the legal process, help you understand your rights, and work to secure compensation for medical bills, lost wages, or other expenses. Knowing you have an advocate can reduce stress and allow you to focus on your recovery.

Community Resources: Explore local support systems, such as community centers, nonprofits, or online forums. These groups often offer tools, workshops, or counseling to help you manage challenges.

Lean on Your Support Network: Whether it’s family, friends, or mentors, the people in your life can provide emotional support, advice, and encouragement when needed.

Set Realistic and Achievable Goals

It’s natural to feel frustrated by limitations, but setting realistic goals allows you to move forward without becoming overwhelmed.

Assess Your Current Capabilities: Take a moment to evaluate what you can reasonably accomplish. For instance, if recovering from an injury, focus on what you can do safely, such as light physical therapy or mental exercises.

Break Goals Into Steps: Large goals can feel daunting. You’ll find it easier to stay motivated and see measurable progress by breaking them into smaller, more manageable tasks. Celebrate small wins—ttheysign you’re on the right track.

Remember, progress is progress, no matter how slow it may seem. The key is consistency and patience with yourself.

Develop Practical Coping Strategies

Coping strategies help you manage stress and find solutions when faced with difficulties.

Stress Management Techniques: Practices such as mindfulness, meditation, and deep breathing can help you regain focus and calmness in moments of stress. These are especially useful when dealing with physical or emotional pain.

Healthy Lifestyle Choices: How you treat your body can significantly impact your ability to cope with challenges. Aim for balanced nutrition, regular physical activity, and sufficient sleep. These habits improve your physical health and mental resilience.

When you’re proactive about your health, you’re better equipped to face challenges and adapt to unexpected situations.

Prioritize Personal Growth

Your limitations don’t define you. Instead, they can be opportunities to learn and grow.

Learn New Skills: Take advantage of your limitations as a chance to explore new interests or improve your abilities. For example, if you cannot do physical work due to an injury, you might take up a new hobby like painting, coding, or writing.

Stay Adaptable: Life doesn’t always go as planned, and that’s okay. Flexibility allows you to pivot and find alternative ways to achieve your goals.

Growth often comes from stepping outside your comfort zone and trying things you never imagined.

Build a Supportive Community

The people you surround yourself with greatly affect how you handle challenges. A strong support network can provide encouragement, perspective, and practical help.

Foster Relationships: Cultivate connections with people who understand your journey. This might include friends, family, or others facing similar challenges.

Share Your Story: Talking about your experiences can be therapeutic and may also inspire others. You never know how sharing your story might create new connections or open doors.

A community doesn’t have to be large; it needs support and understanding.

Advocate for Yourself

Advocating for yourself is about standing up for your needs and ensuring you have what’s necessary to thrive.

Express Your Needs Clearly: Don’t be afraid to let others know what you need, whether it’s emotional support, workplace accommodations, or specific legal advice.

Seek Accommodations: If your limitation impacts your ability to work or participate in daily life, explore accommodations that can help. For example, modified work hours or assistive devices may make a big difference.

Advocating for yourself can initially feel intimidating, but it’s an empowering step toward independence and self-respect.

By taking these steps, you can manage your limitations in a way that fosters personal growth and builds resilience. Life’s challenges can feel overwhelming, but remember you don’t have to face them alone. Whether you’re seeking support from friends, leaning on community resources, or consulting a professional like a personal injury lawyer in Council Bluffs, there are options to help you navigate your journey.

Handling your limitations is about recognizing your strengths, seeking support when needed, and continuing to move forward, even when the path isn’t easy. You are capable of more than you might think, and every small step you take brings you closer to overcoming life’s challenges.

[ebelal56-blog]

STOP Using Ineffective ADHD Strategies and Start Succeeding!

You know, when we talk about ADHD, it often feels like we’re stuck in a whirlwind of misconceptions. The first thing that pops into people’s minds is medication, right? But let me tell you, there’s a whole world of non-pharmacological options out there, and one of the most effective methods is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT. It’s like a toolbox specifically designed to help individuals navigate the unique challenges that ADHD throws at us. So, how does CBT actually help? Well, think about it. ADHD can make it really hard to focus, stay organized, and manage emotions. CBT steps in like a friendly guide, teaching practical strategies to tackle these difficulties head-on. For instance, it helps break down tasks into bite-sized pieces. You know that overwhelming feeling when you look at a long to-do list? CBT teaches you to prioritize, set timers, and celebrate small victories. It’s all about skill development, and trust me, it can make a world of difference. But it doesn’t stop there. CBT also dives into behavioral changes. It helps identify those pesky habits that keep us stuck in a cycle of procrastination and frustration. You learn to recognize when you’re drifting off into distraction land and how to pull yourself back. And let’s not forget emotional regulation. If you’ve ever felt that wave of anxiety or low self-esteem creeping in, CBT gives you tools to manage those feelings instead of letting them manage you. Now, mindfulness is another crucial piece of the puzzle. Imagine being able to focus on the present moment and reduce impulsivity. Sounds great, right? Well, CBT incorporates mindfulness techniques to help you stay grounded and aware, which is especially helpful when your mind feels like it’s racing in a hundred different directions. Establishing structure and routine is vital for managing ADHD, and that’s where CBT shines again. It helps you create a daily plan that supports consistency. Think of it as your personal roadmap through the chaos. Plus, making environmental modifications can be a game-changer. Reducing distractions, using visual reminders, and keeping your workspace organized can set you up for success. But let’s be real; CBT isn’t a magic wand. It’s important to acknowledge its limitations. For some, especially those with severe symptoms, medication might still be necessary. Success with CBT often hinges on your motivation and consistency. It’s not always easy, but when you commit to the process, the results can be transformative. And while we’re at it, don’t overlook supplemental strategies! Regular exercise, a balanced diet, and good sleep hygiene can all support your focus and well-being. Having a support system is crucial, too. Family members can learn strategies to help keep you accountable and encouraged. If you’re thinking about diving into CBT, finding a therapist experienced in ADHD is key. They can tailor the approach to fit your unique needs. Some might even incorporate related therapies, like Acceptance and Commitment Therapy or Dialectical Behavior Therapy, which can enhance your journey. So, if you’re looking for a way to manage ADHD without medication, consider giving CBT a shot. It’s not just about coping; it’s about thriving. And remember, you’re not alone in this. There’s a whole community out there ready to support you on your journey.

[leonbloder]

Finding A Lived-Out Faith

In our fast-paced world, where ideas often seem to hold more value than experience, it is critical to remember that faith is not merely a concept or a set of beliefs; it is meant to be lived, felt, and shared. 

Our lived experiences shape our understanding of faith, making it a dynamic and authentic journey deeply intertwined with our daily lives. As we navigate through life, we often encounter challenges, joys, and sorrows, all of which contribute to the richness of our faith.

The Bible reminds us of this truth in James 2:26, which states, “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.” 

This simple statement emphasizes that true faith manifests itself through action. It is not enough to hold beliefs in our hearts; we must actively express them through our lives. Our experiences, good or bad, are the fertile ground from which our faith can grow and flourish.\

The late author and theologian Rachel Held Evans profoundly articulated this idea when she wrote, “Faith isn’t about having the right answers. It’s about the questions, the conversations, and the experiences that lead us to seek.” 

Evans understood that living out faith means engaging with life’s complexities, inviting a sacred space for doubt and discovery. In these questions—those moments of uncertainty, fear, and wonder—we often find the most genuine expressions of our faith.

Think about a time in your life when you faced a challenge that seemed insurmountable. Perhaps it was a personal loss, a health crisis, or a moment of profound doubt. In these instances, faith comes alive, not through the answers we seek but through the act of seeking. 

It teaches us resilience, compassion, and empathy. We connect with others who share in our struggles, and together, we find the strength to push through. In every tear shed and hand held along the way, we profoundly experience God’s presence.

Brian McLaren, echoes this sentiment, suggesting that “A faith that isn’t lived is a faith that might as well not exist.” 

His words challenge us to reconsider how we view our faith. Are we merely believers, or are we doers? Are we sitting comfortably within the walls of tradition, or are we going out into the world wrapped in compassion and action? 

McLaren's call to action invites us to recognize that our faith must spill out into the world, impacting and transforming the lives of those around us.

Faith lived out embraces the world. It feeds the hungry, comforts the broken-hearted, and stands up for justice. It compromises its comfort zones to reach out to those who feel lost and alone. 

By sharing our own stories and experiences, we inspire others to do the same. We create a tapestry of hope woven together by the common threads of our struggles and triumphs.

These faith experiences are not limited to monumental moments; they often occur in life's quiet, everyday interactions. A simple act of kindness, a moment of grace, or a willingness to listen can profoundly impact us and those around us. 

When we extend love—however imperfectly—we open doors to deeper connections and more significant faith experiences.

Furthermore, when we allow our lived experiences to shape our faith, we cultivate a community that embraces authenticity over perfection. 

We acknowledge that faith is not about flawless living but about engaging with the world as it is. We learn collectively from our mistakes, doubts, and victories, creating a richer and more meaningful faith journey.

This is one of the many reasons I love the community of faith I serve.  We are unafraid to voice our doubts, shy away from hard questions, and admit our mistakes.  It's truly a safe space to cultivate our faith.  

So, how do we make this a reality in our own lives? 

It starts with being present—attentively witnessing the joys and struggles of those around us. We must be open to seeing God’s handiwork in the lives of others while being willing to share our unique experiences. 

It is about cultivating spaces where stories can be shared, where questions can be asked, and where each person can feel valued just as they are. 

As we continue our journey of lived faith, remember that we are not alone. We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses—friends, family, and fellow seekers—who walk alongside us, sharing their stories and supporting us in our struggles. 

May we inspire one another to embrace faith as a living, breathing entity that propels us to act with love, generosity, and understanding.

May we take a step forward into a lived expression of faith, embracing our experiences—the good and the bad—and allowing them to inform how we interact with the world. 

May we seek connections with others and be open to the transformative power of sharing and listening. 

May we find inspiration in the simple act of living out our faith daily. May we let our faith be alive and active, radiating love and hope in a world that so desperately needs it.

And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all, now and forever. Amen. 

[myastronastrologyhelps]

The Most Effective Method to Explore Battles for Control in a Relationship

Is it safe to say that you are encountering fights for control in your relationship? Many couples face this test sooner or later. Epic showdowns can emerge from different circumstances and elements, causing pressure and strain between accomplices. Understanding these epic showdowns and learning compelling ways of exploring them can assist with keeping a sound, amicable relationship. In this article, we will investigate instances of epic showdowns in a relationship and give procedures for beating them, a love problem solution. 1. Financial Decisions ​Financial decisions are a common source of power struggles in relationships. At the point when accomplices have various convictions, values, or ways of managing money concerning cash, clashes might emerge. One accomplice might be more economical, while the other might be more willing to unreservedly spend. This can prompt conflicts on how cash ought to be saved or allotted, causing strains within the relationship love problem solution. To address this epic showdown, having transparent correspondence about monetary objectives and expectations is fundamental. Laying out a spending plan together and thinking twice about monetary choices can assist with lightning strikes. By seeing each other’s points of view and settling on some mutual interest, couples can explore this battle for a control love problem solution. 2. Family Errands One more illustration of an epic showdown in a relationship rotates around family errands. Inconsistent dissemination of family obligations can make disdain and power uneven characters. One accomplice might feel overpowered by the responsibility, while the other may feel their endeavors are not perceived or appreciated, and love problem solution. To address this epic showdown, laying out clear assumptions and responsibilities is essential. Openness is of the utmost importance in examining each accomplice’s assets, impediments, and accessibility. Equitably distributing the work can be aided by devising a shared chore schedule or delegating responsibilities based on individual preferences. Furthermore, offering thanks and recognizing each other’s commitments can encourage a feeling of cooperation in tending to family errands, love problem solution. 3. Direction Fights for control frequently emerge about dynamics inside a relationship. Whether it’s significant life decisions, for example, vocation changes or migrating, or everyday choices, similar to where to have supper, conflicts can happen. At the point when one accomplice reliably rules independent direction or ignores the other’s feedback, it can prompt sensations of inconsequentiality and an absence of an independent love problem solution. To explore this fight for control, it is fundamental to develop a feeling of fairness and regard in navigation. Validate each other’s points of view and engage in active listening practice. Investigate, split the difference, and track down arrangements that consolidate the two accomplices’ requirements and wants. By encouraging a climate of coordinated effort and shared independent direction, epic showdowns can be a limited love problem solution. 4. Closeness and Feelings Contrasts in closeness and feelings can likewise add to epic showdowns in a relationship. While one partner may struggle to express vulnerability or prioritize intimacy, the other may desire more affection or emotional support. This crisscrossing can prompt disappointments and errors, love problem solution. To address this fight for control, having open and empathetic communication is significant. Make a place of refuge where the two accomplices can communicate their necessities and want without judgment. Take part in dynamic compassionate tuning in and cooperate to track down ways of meeting each other’s feelings. This might include splitting the difference and investigating better approaches to interface on a close-to-home level love problem solution.

[theaccountingsavvy]

Insights Unveiled: A Conversation with a Corporate Assignment Help Expert

Hello students,

If you are ever thinking about who will Do My corporate accounting Assignment for Me

Then you are at the perfect place

The world of academia often poses challenges, especially when it comes to assignments. The demand for excellence, coupled with intricate subject matter, can sometimes overwhelm students. To delve deeper into the realm of academic assistance, I recently had the privilege of sitting down with a seasoned Corporate Assignment Help Expert, someone who navigates the intricate waters of academia to assist students in achieving their academic goals.

Interviewer: Good day! It's a pleasure to speak with you. To start, could you please share what motivated you to become an expert in the realm of corporate assignment help?

Dr. Alexander: Hello! The pleasure is mine. Well, my journey into this field stemmed from a passion for education and a drive to help students. I recognized the challenges many face in academia, especially with complex subjects and demanding assignments. Witnessing this struggle propelled me to leverage my expertise and assist students in navigating these challenges effectively.

Interviewer: That's commendable. Could you shed some light on the specific areas you specialize in when providing assignment help to students?

Dr. Alexander: Certainly! I specialize in various domains within the corporate landscape. These include but are not limited to business management, finance, marketing, human resources, and strategic planning. My goal is to not only aid students in understanding theoretical concepts but also to guide them in applying these theories to real-world scenarios effectively.

Interviewer: That sounds comprehensive. In your experience, what are some common challenges students face with corporate assignments?

Dr. Alexander: One of the primary challenges students encounter is the integration of theoretical knowledge with practical application. Many struggle to bridge the gap between what they learn in textbooks and how these concepts operate in real corporate settings. Additionally, time management often becomes an issue, especially when juggling multiple assignments and deadlines within a limited timeframe.

Interviewer: Time management is indeed crucial. How do you assist students in overcoming these challenges?

Dr. Alexander: It's a multi-faceted approach. I prioritize understanding the student's individual learning style, strengths, and areas needing improvement. Then, I provide tailored guidance and resources to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter. This includes offering detailed explanations, practical examples, and relevant case studies to reinforce learning. Moreover, I emphasize the importance of effective time management techniques to ensure timely completion of assignments without compromising quality.

Interviewer: That personalized approach sounds invaluable. How do you ensure the authenticity and originality of the assignments you assist with?

Dr. Alexander: Maintaining academic integrity is paramount. I strictly adhere to ethical guidelines and emphasize the importance of original work. My role is to guide and support students in their assignments by providing valuable insights, frameworks, and methodologies. I encourage critical thinking and offer suggestions while ensuring that the final submission reflects the student's unique understanding and perspective.

Interviewer: That's reassuring. Could you share an instance where your assistance significantly impacted a student's academic journey?

Dr. Alexander: Certainly. I recall working with a student struggling with a complex financial management assignment. The student found it challenging to grasp certain financial models and their application. Through one-on-one sessions and step-by-step guidance, I assisted the student in comprehending these models, enabling them to complete the assignment confidently. Witnessing their progress and seeing them achieve a high grade was truly fulfilling.

Interviewer: It's heartening to hear about such positive outcomes. Lastly, what advice would you give to students grappling with corporate assignments?

Dr. Alexander: I'd emphasize the importance of proactivity. Don't hesitate to seek help or guidance when needed. Utilize available resources, ask questions, and engage actively in your learning process. Additionally, effective time management and consistent effort are key to success. Finally, never underestimate the power of perseverance and continuous learning.

In conclusion, my conversation with the Corporate Assignment Help Expert shed light on the multifaceted approach required to assist students effectively. The expert's dedication to facilitating learning, emphasizing originality, and personalized guidance serves as a beacon for students navigating the intricate landscape of corporate assignments. Their insights unveil a pathway towards academic success, underlining the significance of collaboration and proactive engagement in the pursuit of knowledge.

Learning is a journey, and with the right guidance and support, students can navigate the challenges of corporate assignments with confidence and proficiency.

[reviewsadvice]

Mgcckj Limited Scandal: Lessons Learned And The Fallout

In today’s world, Forex financing is getting popularity day by day. In this fast-moving sector, many new businesses are getting interest from traders. But, there are some scammers too. Unfortunately, MGCCKJ Limited. is a problematic and fraudulent entity that poses a significant risk to traders. In this article, we will provide a comprehensive review of MGCCKJ Limited.

TEAM

This broker does not have any details about their team. Their website is not active now. But, from their previous client’s feedback, we came to know that they don’t have an actual team to perform the trading.

SERVICES AND PRODUCTS

MGCCKJ Limited. provides clients with access to forex, CFDs, and binary options trading. However, the broker does not offer any educational resources, trading signals, or other tools that can help traders improve their trading skills or decision-making processes. This lack of value-added services suggests that the broker is only interested in attracting clients for commission purposes and not for the benefit of their trading.

TRADING PLATFORM

MGCCKJ Limited. uses the SpotOption trading platform, which is a widely-used platform in the binary options industry. Unfortunately, the platform has a reputation for being prone to manipulation and unfair trading practices. Furthermore, the platform’s layout and functionality are outdated, making it difficult for traders to navigate and execute trades efficiently.

Licenses and Regulations

LICENSE STATUS

One of the most significant concerns about MGCCKJ Limited is its unlicensed status. The broker does not hold any valid licenses from recognized financial authorities. We tried to find out the license information from the broker’s website and other sources. But, in every place, we find it negative.

REGULATION STATUS

MGCCKJ Limited. is not regulated by any financial regulatory body. As they are in the UK, they should have a regulation confirmation from the FCA. But, when we searched the FCA database, we found no registration.

Why Should Not You Trust An Unlicensed Broker?

Trading with an unlicensed broker is one of the most significant mistakes any trader can make. This is because unlicensed brokers do not follow regulatory standards, which increases the risk of fraud, money laundering, and other fraudulent activities. Additionally, unlicensed brokers may exploit the trading platform, leading to client losses.

LEGAL WARNINGS AGAINST MGCCKJ LIMITED:

Several financial regulators have warned the public against using MGCCKJ Limited Services. In 2019, the New Zealand Financial Markets Authority (FMA) warned the public that the broker operated without authorization and could pose significant risks to investors.

Client Feedback On MGCCKJ Limited.

ABOUT THEIR TRADING

Several clients have reported that the broker’s trading practices are manipulative and fraudulent. There have been instances where traders’ accounts have been wiped out, leaving them with significant losses without clear explanations or justifications from the broker.

ABOUT THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE

Clients have also reported that MGCCKJ Limited’s customer service is inadequate. The broker provides limited support channels, often slow to respond or provide inadequate responses to clients’ inquiries.

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[choicesarehard]

I keep my streams about Wolf Bride light-hearted. It’s been a hell of a year, and I think we all need a space where we can laugh together. But part of responsibly consuming problematic media is being aware of where it fails. And that’s why I think it’s important to talk about Morgan, and Wolf Bride’s troubling depiction of blindness. 

Morgan is one of the first Love Interests in Choices to have a canon disability. She is representation many players with disabilities, like myself, are eager for. But like any form of representation, writing a blind character requires research. A quick google search will lead you to numerous visually impaired voices who outline the tropes and stereotypes that harm their community. Wolf Bride has included nearly all of them. 

signal boosts are appreciated

Not All Blind People Wear Sunglasses

Morgan is shown wearing dark sunglasses from the moment she appears on screen. And there are certainly blind people who wear sunglasses — particularly those who (unlike Morgan) can still perceive some degree of light and dark, and experience painful light sensitivity. But no context is ever giving for Morgan’s use of sunglasses. In fact, they aren’t even addressed for four chapters. 

[ID: Two screenshots from Chapter Four of Wolf Bride. The first features a text box over a forest background, and reads “You glance at Morgan, and are surprised to see the dark glasses still covering her eyes.” The second features a labeled image of her sunglasses, placed over a black background, with a selectable button that reads “What does Morgan look like without these?”] What follows is a scene Pixelberry could have used to provide insight into an assistive device the sighted community may not be entirely familiar with. They could have touched on degrees of visual impairment, or why some blind individuals need dark lenses while others don’t. They could even have explained that for some individuals with visual impairments, dark lenses make tasks like reading or navigating dimly lit spaces harder.  Instead, and far more troublingly, MC is given the option to ask Morgan not to wear them anymore. And depending on your choice, the book is coded to remove the sunglasses from her sprite in future scenes. This reduces an assistive device to a fashion choice, something our MC can wish away if they don’t find it attractive. And that isn’t okay. 

Unusual Eyes

[ID: Two side-by-side screenshots from Chapter Four of Wolf Bride. The first features a text box placed over a forest background that reads “With a start, you realize her pale eyes aren’t looking at you, aren’t seeing you, aren’t seeing anything.” The second features Morgan’s sad sprite in the same forest setting, and a text box that reads “...I’ve been blind since birth.”] Morgan has a customizable sprite. But regardless of the ethnicity you select for her, she is depicted with pale blue eyes. And that troubles me. Because the stereotype that all blind individuals have cloudy, distorted, or unusual eyes is pervasive and harmful. 

Even when it isn’t tied to another harmful trope — the blind character as mystical seer or psychic — this stereotype create an expectation that blindness is something that always manifests in a visible way. And for millions of blind individuals, that isn’t the case. 

And while cataracts, trauma to the eye, and corneal infections can all cause the clouded effect most of us recognize from media, none turn your brown eyes into blue.  Heightened Senses

Another common stereotype in media is the blind character who’s remaining senses have become heightened as a compensatory mechanism, often to a supernatural degree.

[ID: Two side-by-side screenshots from Chapter Four of Wolf Bride. The first features Morgan’s surprised sprite in a forest setting and a text box that reads “I guess I sort of...feel things. Like the place on my cheek where the branch blocked the wind.” The second features Morgan’s neutral sprite in the same forest setting, and a text box that reads “I can smell the dew on the leaves, and the moss on the bark. Can’t you?] Individuals with visual impairment may learn to rely on their other senses to navigate the world around them. But they do not suddenly gain the ability to sense the location of a branch based on wind patterns, or to accurately throw a dart at a carnival game ballon based on its smell. 

[ID: Two side-by-side screenshots from Chapter Eight of Wolf Bride. The first features a text box placed over a carnival background that reads “Pop! Pop! Pop! Three darts fly through the air, striking their targets.” The second features the white MC with straight blonde hair. Her sprite is surprised, and beneath it is a text box that reads “So you did that by smell, too?]

This trope may seem harmless — after all, it gave us Daredevil, a beloved blind superhero — but it contributes to the unachievable expectations we often place on real-world individuals with visually impairments. And that isn’t fair. 

Of course, we all suspected Morgan’s abilities were due to something other than heightened senses. And that in and of itself is a problem. 

Magical / Supernatural Abilities

To the surprise of no one, Morgan exhibits these unusual abilities because she is a werewolf. But choosing to give a blind character magical abilities should only be done after asking yourself some challenging questions. As visually-impaired Tumblr user @mimzy-writing-online explains:

Your blind characters don’t need a magical ability that negates their blindness. [Ask yourself why it’s so important to you to give them one]. If it’s because they can’t do all the things you want them to do without it, then should you really have written them as blind in the first place? 

And that’s the thing. Morgan isn’t actually written as a blind character, not when it counts. Morgan shoots bullets with accuracy, runs through unfamiliar terrain, and navigates moving objects with ease. She doesn’t use common assistive devices like canes or screen readers. Her sunglasses are discarded at MC’s request. The scientific papers that fill her research facility are not digitized for accessibility or written in braille. 

Even her dreams, which should be reflections of how she perceives reality, look identical to Bastien's — which makes no sense for someone who has been canonically blind since birth. 

[ID: Two side-by-side screenshots from Chapters Five and Eight of Wolf Bride. The first features a scene from Morgan’s lucid dream. Set in a glamorous hotel, it includes visual details like twinkling lights, and patterned carpets. The color is tinted a grey-blue and the exposure on the image has been increased to an unnatural level. The second features a scene from Bastien’s lucid dream. Set in a forest, it shares the same tinted and over-exposed qualities as the first.]

Her blindness isn’t an integral part of her character. Instead, it’s a narrative device, paraded in front of the reader when it can further a central — and deeply disturbing — plot point. [content warning: discussion of discrimination and child abuse / abandonment ahead]  Morgan Was Left to Die Because She Was Blind 

And Jesus, what a plot point it is. In Chapter 11, we learn that Morgan was left to die in the woods because she was born “wrong, sickly, blind.” But the only canonical disability or illness she is ever shown to have is her blindness. 

[ID: Three side-by-side screenshots from Chapter Eleven of Wolf Bride. The first two feature the white MC with straight blonde hair’s shocked sprite in front of a forest background. The first text box reads “I don’t understand...” followed by two dialogue options “Why was Morgan abandoned?” and “Is that what you do to full moon babies? Kill them?” The second panel’s read box reads “Just because she was blind?” The third panel features  the old woman Noemi’s sad sprite, placed over a forest background. Her text box reads “If we know an infant will not survive, it is best to let it die quickly.”]

I...am frankly having a hard time thinking through the screenshot-induced fury to make a coherent argument here. To imply that blindness is an impairment so limiting that death is the only foreseeable outcome? That being born blind somehow makes a child “wrong”? The ignorance and prejudice shown in this scene is staggering. 

But equally troubling is the response of the main characters to this revelation. Yes, in fiction, bad people sometimes do bad things. But Noemi isn’t shown to be a bad person. Neither is Bastien, who knew what his pack had been guilty of in the past, and even seeks to justify it to a limited degree. 

Most shockingly, Morgan herself, who in the second screenshot below has just overheard that she was left to die as an infant because she is blind, isn’t angry or upset. She’s almost apologetic, still seeking a place within the pack. 

[ID: Two side-by-side screenshots from Chapter Eleven of Wolf Bride. The first features Hispanic Bastien’s sad sprite in front of a forest background. The text box beneath him reads “It doesn’t happen often, Clara, but...” The second features white Morgan’s sad sprite in front of the same forest background. The text box beneath her reads “I didn’t mean any harm. Especially after...what I just overheard.”]

By introducing the idea that a child born blind cannot survive, let alone thrive, without superhuman abilities, and then failing to soundly and thoroughly refute that idea through the characters we identify with, Pixelberry is unintentionally perpetuating the same false beliefs that have led to real-world instances of infanticide for centuries. And that isn’t okay. 

I don’t know where Pixelberry will go with the story from here. Perhaps in today’s chapter some of these concerns have been addressed...but I doubt it. In the meantime, I’ve also written to their support staff to express my deep concern and disappointment in the treatment of Morgan’s character. And I’d encourage you to do the same. 

Will I continue to keep streaming Wolf Bride? For now, yes. My VIP subscription is already paid for, and frankly, I want to see Morgan’s arc through. I guess the small part of me that was excited for the representation is still hopeful the narrative can be corrected. 

But I’ll be adding a content warning at the start of each stream for ablism, and that’s something I never thought I’d have to do.  Screenshots courtesy of CrimsonFeatherGames on Youtube

[doberbutts]

On Consent and Autonomy

Having a discussion with a friend about this sort of thing reminded me that I never typed anything up with Tiki’s journeys through this outside of adding onto various posts already talking about how little dogs like chihuahuas don’t get to have boundaries a lot of the time, and how a lot of the shitty aggressive little dogs are simply dogs who were never allowed to express a boundary without drawing blood.

One of the most important things to me with my animals is, and always has been, consent. I use it with my exotics, I use it with my domestics. There are things that my animals must allow me to do- nail trims, baths, teeth brushing, etc- but for the things that are required I do a lot of no-nonsense desensitization and a lot of fearfree veterinary methods to allow the animal to see that while these things are non-negotiable, they’re also not that bad and don’t have to be the worst thing ever.

But for everything else, there’s always consent involved.

I’ve spoken before about how there’s the issue of autonomy and consent especially with little dogs, who have their buttons pushed and their boundaries ignored simply because of their size, because it’s not like if you harass a doberman into biting you, because an angry chihuahua can do the same damage an angry doberman can. How little dogs especially are favored for the “living toy” and “fashion accessory” factor above all else, and how many of them are so undersocialized and underexercised that they don’t even seem to grasp that they can walk from place to place by themselves and just expect to be carried everywhere by default. How many actually don’t like that and dislike the idea of the looming behavior us freakishly tall humans tend to exhibit while interacting.

One way I managed that entire problem with Tiki was simply asking for consent to pick her up or put her down. She first learned that she could actually move from place to place on her own, and then she learned that she could accept or reject the offer to be held, and then she learned that she could ask to be held or put down. Simply by giving her a cue for both up and down, and allowing her to navigate that while earning her trust that I wouldn’t suddenly change the rules. Even to her last day, she understood the difference between her previous life of being scooped up without warning or consent, and the life I had built for her to accept my offered choice of being held tight to me.

When the vet brought her to me one last time, she was squirming in the vet’s hands to get down. When I offered her the chance to be held, she leapt into my arms and cuddled close. She was delirious with fever and couldn’t hold her own head up, but she still recognized the offer of comfort, and she chose to have her final moments held tight to my chest.

But- that’s not the only consent-based training I practiced with her, or with the various dogs at my job who struggle with the same thing.

In our training videos, you could see me tossing a treat a short distance away to encourage her to leave me. Training can put a lot of pressure on a dog, especially a dog that may be sensitive or struggle with confidence, and the tossed treat provides a “break” from expectations as it allows them to disconnect and disengage, giving them a chance to destress by sniffing, shaking, or running around a bit before returning to you. My general rule of thumb is that if I toss the treat and the dog does not immediately return for more training, they are asking for space or even for a longer break. This is a bit different if the dog is simply distracted by its surroundings- for those, I will encourage them to come back by calling them. But more and more I have found that these sensitive dogs actually develop more and more tolerance to that pressure, because they are allowed to back off when they feel overwhelmed, and rejoin you when they feel more confident. Of course, it is key to keep your training lighthearted and fun regardless, but especially so with these sensitive dogs that need a little extra boost. No one likes learning that feels like a chore.

Another thing I do is during playtime. If I begin to suspect someone is getting too aroused or overwhelmed, I remove the aggressor from the situation and bring them a few feet away. If the recipient does not want to continue the interaction or needs space, they typically will walk away. If instead they come bounding over to harass the aggressor to rejoin play, then the game was fun and everyone was having a good time. If I have removed someone too late for a peaceable interaction (ie: I stepped in as aggressive corrections began happening), then both are taken aside to calm down before being re-released to opposite ends of the play area and they are monitored closely to ensure their next meeting and interaction does not result in a grudge match. I frequently use a three-strikes method with this- you get three chances to not be a giant dick before playtime is over. After that point, you may watch (if you are quiet), but you are outside of the play area and on leash. Very rarely do I need to employ that method more than once before the dog in question connects that dickish behavior = no more fun, and it keeps everyone else safe in the mean time. More often I have dogs that learn how to play appropriately, respond to social cues and minor corrections well, and to alter their play to suit a variety of partners and groups.

I also do this with human-to-dog playtime! Tiki loved biting and wrestling hands, and once again especially with a smaller or more sensitive or less confident dog, it’s easy to accidentally overwhelm or scare or hurt your dog without realizing it. To prevent this, I do push the dog away during a wrestle match. If the dog bounces away from me, or continues to bounce but holds a position just out of reach, then generally that is a cue that they were becoming overwhelmed and need a moment to recover. If the dog immediately pounces on my hands again, then once again the game was fun and everyone was enjoying themselves.

Dogs cannot speak English or any other human language. That’s not to say they don’t understand us, but their ability to say these words are so limited that outside of a handful of studies we truly haven’t seen too many instances of dogs communicating with words we humans can understand. That does not at all mean they cannot consent. I frequently ask the dogs “do you want ___” or similar. While yes, most of the things I ask them are things I’ve built up very positive associations with- a walk, a cookie, their dinner, to go play- the fact remains that all of the dogs in the house are used to hearing us ask if they desire something. Before I give Creed a cookie, I ask if he wants it. Before I take him to potty, I ask if that’s what he needs. Before I offer him something to sniff, I ask if he wants to. There are, in fact, times where I give him something and he spits it out. I ask him, “do you want ___” and sometimes he really does walk away. No, he didn’t want that right now.

It can sound silly, asking dogs what they want, asking for consent, things like that. But it’s also not as difficult of a concept as one might think! Having seen so many dogs aided by these methods and more, I can’t imagine going back to force a dog to do something (non-essential) it genuinely didn’t want to do. What exactly is the harm in allowing your little dog to say no sometimes to being picked up? What exactly is the harm in allowing your sensitive dog to say it needs a break from training? What exactly is the harm in allowing your dog to say it needs a moment to calm down while playing? The harm in not allowing these things is the very real prospect of getting bitten. Allowing them? Don’t really see any negative side-effects.

[veterinaryshitposting]

From one of the best, Dr Dean Scott:

"How to Approach a Veterinarian

Much study has been done on the behaviors of veterinarians. However, many negative outcomes can be mitigated if people can successfully navigate the initial encounter. Fumbling this can lead to an ever-spiraling downward trend of negative reinforcement. People need to understand that many veterinarians they meet are rescues. They have been abused, endured poor living conditions and general neglect. Which is what makes it critical to approach properly when encountering this fragile, yet equally durable, species.

The first rule is: Never approach a veterinarian in the wild. They are easily spooked and will bolt. Even if you are familiar to them, they may not recognize you in a different setting which induces anxiety and causes them to shy away. Should you see them from afar, just continue about your business and act as if you have not seen them. If you should stumble upon them suddenly, simply smile and move away as naturally as possible. In either situation, the veterinarian’s instinctive avoidance response will kick in and you will in most instances not see them again.

Never approach a veterinarian where they nest. Doing so can trigger aggression as they are very territorial in a domestic setting. In extreme circumstances, encroachment on their habitat may prompt them to relocate to a safer environment.

One of the most common ways you may encounter a veterinarian spontaneously is in a social setting. Because of their biology, both physiological and behavioral, this is a rare event and needs to be treated delicately. Should you become aware of the presence of a veterinarian within a social group here are some of the steps you need to take depending on circumstances.

The best rule is to let them approach you first. Be aware that this may not happen and you should not feel disappointed if this occurs. However, if you feel compelled, as many do because they are such a captivating and fascinating species, first establish if the veterinarian has a handler, whether they be a significant other or family member. If so, ask permission from the handler to approach the veterinarian. Do not make eye contact. Do not make any abrupt moves. Speak in a calm and soothing manner. Do not invade their space unsolicited. Turn sideways as to make yourself less threatening. Do not get between them and the nearest exit. Offer treats such as coffee, chocolate, donuts, pizza, etc. if available. Be continually aware of their behavior and body-language so you can stop the interaction if they become restless or agitated. If they wander off mid-sentence, do not pursue them. If you follow these rules, you may be rewarded with more frequent and lengthier encounters. Or you may not. Be happy with the boon of time that you had.

One of the less obvious rules when seeing veterinarians in a social setting (which includes, but is not limited to social media, parties, bar mitzvahs, funerals, baby showers, traffic accidents, public bathrooms, etc.) is what subjects are safe to discuss. The simplest way to put this is: do not discuss anything about veterinary medicine or animals, no matter how tempted you may be. And if your only reason for approaching a veterinarian is to speak about such things, please see above rule regarding veterinarians in the wild. Ignoring the subject-rule will shorten your encounter with a veterinarian, in which you may witness anything from passive-aggressive behavior to full flight. A fleeing veterinarian can attain speeds of up to 16 mph for short distances. Definitely do not bring up other encounters you have had with members of the veterinary species. Veterinarians are both very protective and jealous of one another, so there is no safe avenue of discourse. And in case you didn’t know, a group of veterinarians is called a convention.

Many veterinarian-watchers will, of course, tell you the best place to view them is in their natural environment. They are very predictable in the hours and location in which they forage for a living. Many of the same rules apply as in the social setting, though there are a few more that will add to a positive encounter. Because the veterinarian is in a more controlled environ, they will be more vocal and prone to “display” behavior that you might not see elsewhere. It is best to nod at appropriate times and listen attentively. This will encourage the veterinarian and reward the viewer with a variety of spontaneous and delightful actions. Trained veterinarian-watchers will tell you there is much to be learned from veterinarians when encounters on their home-turf are handled properly.

We hope you find these observations useful and should you wish to add your own positive encounters, please feel free at #IJustSawAVetAndILikedIt"

[lizacstuff]

What did you think of the latest SCK episode? I’m torn. There were some really good scenes, but \insert annoyed sigh\ there was also Celine.

Actually, I really enjoyed it. I watched it last night and then immediately rewatched. There was so much Edser goodness and enough emotional movement that it kept the shipper in me happy even though I am dying for resolution to the secret.  

I'll get to Selin and all the delicious Eda/Serkan down below, but I have to give props to some of the side stories this ep. Erdeem humor is hit or miss for me, but this episode it was a hit. The entire montage of the security camera footage had me laughing out loud. Literal, loud belly laughs, my neighbors could probably hear me. The whole scene was gold from the hilarious footage to the reactions. Erdeem was probably the best, but shout out to Leila photocopying herself, who doesn't want to do that? Then there was the reactions, Engin and Piril being mortified, Efe looking guilty and nervous worrying about what they were going to see, Ferit not being able to hold it together. The way he was turning and laughing sort of charmed me, I wasn't sure if that was acting, or if Cagri was breaking during the scene, or both. Either way, it worked, and I loved it. The only thing missing in the scene was Serkan, because Kerem's reaction expressions would have been amazing.

This got LONG so I’ll put the rest beneath the read more:

Loved Aydan getting out of the house and fully joining Team Edser. It's self-serving to some extent because she rightly thinks that losing Eda due to the secret is the wedge driving Serkan away from her. However, to give her props, the breakup also made her recognize how deep and real Serkan's feelings are, actually Eda's too, and I think she genuinely wants both of them to be happy. Now can we have Seyfi and Aydan actively matchmaking? This would be great after Eda finds out since I assume she's going to be angry and need time to process, so there probably won't be an immediate reconciliation. AySey to the rescue! 

Ayfer on the other hand needs to chill. Most of the time her end advice "protect your heart" is good, but her overreactions and mocking judgements are annoying. It's got to be clear to her that Eda and Serkan love each other and are working through some things, and there is no need for her to wade into it constantly. Eda is an adult and can make her own decisions and mistakes.  As for the other couples Engin and Piril can be funny, but I have no idea what they see in each other and could not be more mismatched so I'm not sure where it's going. As for Ceren and Ferit, I don't understand what Ferit did to upset her throughout the episode, I don't think he did either, but he was sweet about it. I like him more and more. And welcome back Melo! A breath of fresh air.

Now on to the best stuff. The number of heart-felt declarations this episode between Eda and Serkan warmed my cold, icy heart. The fact that they are broken up, but at the same time are at the point of just letting their feelings hang out there for the other to see is super fun to watch.  

Eda believing in Serkan when no one else did, and then being determined to find out what happened and bring the culprit to justice is as romantic as it gets. You go, girl! She might be so mad at him, and so annoyed at him, or even feeling hurt, but at the end of the day she is gonna be in his corner no matter what. That's love. 

Serkan on the other hand. Serkan, Serkan, Serkan. He can't have her around, but he also can't be apart from her. The poor dear is being pulled in half by a tornado created by his own intense desire to be with her fighting against his noble intentions. It's not fair to Eda at all, but his see-sawing should give her every indication that he loves her and is wrestling with something huge. For his part, I hope he's starting to catch a clue on the depth of Eda's feelings. "You want me to leave, because you're afraid of the woman who loves you  more than anything."  Seriously. Seriously!?!!? Wow. She'd never told him she loved him, just that their feelings were mutual. He's always feared that he doesn't deserve her and she'll get tired of him. Well she's standing there, with a broken heart and a bruised ego after he took Selin's side, and still telling him that she loves him more than anyone. He also looked absolutely wrecked, as he should, when she said he had just discarded her. He never wanted her to feel that way. 

On the other hand, I'm not sure Eda fully digested some of his avowals. "I only trust you." HUGE. Eps 7-9 told us everything we need to know about his trust issues. He loves easier than he trusts. We knew how much he loves her, but now we know not only does he trust her, she's the only one he trusts. Swoon. That was huge for him to admit, Eda, HUGE. But also, "I have never valued anyone as much as you." Once again, huge and a huge breakup fail. I don't blame Eda for not realizing the full weight of these declarations, he says them, but they're apart. Still, you take those and add to the way he can't stay away from her, how he's personally invested in her professionally, actively mentoring her, the password (oh man did I love that), the photo, the mug. Lots of evidence of his real feelings piling up there, Eda.  

Which leads to the fact that we're at the point where the pain/gain assessment for Plan A (breaking up to protect her) is in the red. Meaning it's starting to cause more pain than it's prevented. That's where we get to Selin, because she unwittingly pushed things forward for them this episode. I'm not sure what's motivating her, because she seems like a character that would have too much pride to put herself in the position of having to watch a love sick Serkan chase around after Eda like a heartbroken puppy. However, Selin's feelings are in no way the point on this show. They simply don't matter, because in this instance she is a device. A device to ratchet up the tension between Eda and Serkan. A device to drive Eda's impulsivity and showcase a bit of her jealousy. A device to show that Serkan is so far gone over Eda, he doesn't even notice another woman vying for his attention. Also it gave us this:

"I never loved Selin."

Okay, Serkan. I DIED. Like we been knew, but know we KNOW, and we know that he knows. His relationship with Selin was 100% habit and convenience. That also pretty much tells us that Eda is his first and only real love, which makes the way it's changed him so tangible and believable. Also, more importantly than the audience knowing he never loved Selin, now Eda knows. I get Eda's frustration with Serkan not being annoyed at Selin, but she's missing the point that Selin is simply not important enough for him to care. She doesn't rouse any sort of emotion from him, the way he treats her is all fueled by professional duty and personal guilt. The scene in the office was unfortunate, and I wish Serkan hadn't lost his temper, (but not really because it drove their most important conversations) but Eda's impulsivity sort of led it to that place. I get why Eda suspected Selin, in her shoes I probably would have done the same thing, but I also think Serkan is not putting Selin on a pedestal by knowing that she had nothing to do with the sabotage. And Serkan getting angry was the only thing that got Eda to back down, so it was a very inelegant way of de-escalating the situation. On the plus side, it gave us Serkan trying to make things right for the rest of the episode which was amazing. I will never be over the library scene, the autumn walk scene, Eda being his first guest in the new apartment scene. çok romantik!

As for Selin, look, she's ANNOYING. I'm right there with you. The character is entirely self-absorbed and while I think her motivations are murky at best, I think she's driven in part by competition with Eda. Eda won the war when it comes to Serkan, but Selin is still trying to take a battle or two in order to save face. On another note, she spent most of the episode knowing there was a saboteur, that Serkan suspected Efe, and still didn't put 2 and 2 together with the direct threats Efe made towards Serkan in her presence. Seriously, if something doesn't directly affect her, she can't even retain the information. What a useless lump she is. 

Thank you Aydan, for calling out how ridiculous it was that she didn't go to a hotel. I love that Selin was probably like, "Wasn't she on my side the last time I saw her?" Hilarious. Serkan allowing her to stay there, when she wouldn't have been welcome while they were together, was eyeroll inducing. But I think Selin is such a nonissue for him, that he just could not wrap his head around why it was bothering Eda so much. Also his guilt. The thing that makes the game that Serkan was playing with her forgivable, is the fact that he actually feels bad about the part he played in her life falling apart. I'm not saying it was his fault, but he rightly feels guilty. 

However, from that last scene, I think he's going to learn a hard lesson about guilt getting in the way of common sense. Eda is now ready to push him to his jealousy limit!  That final scene escalated quickly, but I think both of them were driven by a fair bit of pride combined with the frayed nerves that have to come with being broken up while they're both still currently, and obviously, in a romantic relationship with one another.

That's hard and I wholeheartedly look forward to them navigating that next episode. From the Fragman it looks like it's all finally coming to a head. Can't wait!

[aion-rsa]

15 Hardest PlayStation One Games of All-Time

https://ift.tt/3o3aW0n

The PlayStation is fondly remembered for its classic collection of revolutionary games, advancements in 3D technology, and CD player functionality that let you easily play the Men in Black soundtrack whenever you wanted. As you’ve probably guessed from the title of this article, though, it’s also the home of some of the hardest games of the ’90s.

The PlayStation may have helped move us out of the arcade era and its notorious difficulty levels, but with the challenges of 3D game design came a new set of in-game challenges that tested a generation of gamers in ways that they simply were not prepared for.

Even after we’ve grown accustomed to the machinations and expectations of 3D game design all these years later, I suspect that many modern gamers would struggle to beat the 15 hardest PlayStation One games ever.

15. Crash Bandicoot

One of the funniest things about the release of 2017’s Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy was watching everyone suddenly remember that the Crash Bandicoot games were absurdly difficult. 

Despite their linear design, the Crash Bandicoot games demanded a level of platforming perfection that proved to be elusive enough at a time when modern video game graphics, cameras, and controls made the remakes of the Crash Bandicoot games much more accessible but was nearly impossible to achieve in the early days of PlayStation gaming.

The later Crash Bandicoot games made things slightly easier, but the first title’s combination of intentionally challenging obstacles and a few questionable design decisions make it one of the most truly difficult games of its era.

14. Fear Effect

The original Fear Effect games are awkward to play today for a lot of reasons (casual racism and strange “softcore” cutscenes, for instance), but if you find yourself struggling to make it through these titles, it’s not just because they haven’t aged especially well. Fear Effect was an incredibly difficult game even for its time.

Essentially a blend of Resident Evil-like controls, point and click adventure puzzles, and awkward stealth sequences, Fear Effect is like a Hall of Fame for the most challenging and infuriating gameplay concepts of its era. 

Fear Effect 2 might even be harder than the first game, but the nod here goes to the original for featuring one of the most uniquely difficult gaming experiences the PlayStation has to offer. 

13. Driver

22 years after its release, I’m still convinced that Driver is a prank. How else can you explain developer Reflections Interactive’s decision to make this game’s tutorial mission one of the hardest levels in video game history?

Driver’s first level requires you to complete a series of complex maneuvers in a confined space while racing against a way too short time limit. To make matters worse, the game often fails to recognize when you’ve properly completed a maneuver, which means that you might not pass the test even if you’ve somehow mastered the game’s most complex movies the first time you’re ever asked to perform them. 

If you’re one of the many who has never beaten Driver’s opening level, you may be shocked to find that there are difficulty spikes later in the game that are even more difficult than its notorious opener. At least this game is still better than the sequel. 

12. Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey

Oddworld’s unique puzzles and strange core mechanics would have made it challenging enough for players just trying to figure out what’s expected of them, but this game goes one step further by employing some of the most unforgiving level design tactics in PlayStation history. 

Your margin for error in this game rarely rises above zero as gunfire and traps constantly threaten to end your fun. While that kind of unforgiving gameplay makes sense in something like a bullet hell title, it can be frustrating to work with in a puzzle game where your trial and error attempts are hindered by an additional series of wrong moves. 

Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey is clearly meant to be a difficult game, but knowing that doesn’t make it feel any less unforgiving. 

11. Rayman

As strange as it may seem given the evolution of the franchise over the years, the original Rayman is by far one of the hardest games of the ‘90s and arguably one of the hardest platformer games ever made. 

Unlike other platformers that challenge you with rewarding gameplay that requires precision movements, most of Rayman’s challenges can be best described as “bulls***.” The slippery slopes and spiked pits spread generously throughout levels might kill you, but the game’s bizarre enemy spawning system that makes it practically impossible to anticipate their placement certainly will. 

If Rayman isn’t one of the hardest games ever made its certainty among the most frustrating. 

10. Vagrant Story

For years, fans have called Vagrant Story one of the most underrated PlayStation games and one of the most overlooked RPGs ever made. It deserves both those titles, but I think Vagrant Story also deserves to be remembered as an absurdly difficult epic. 

Initially, the challenge of Vagrant Story comes from learning its unique combat system that often leaves you feeling helpless. Even after you’ve made sense of the basics, Vagrant Story’s brutal bosses, clever traps, and even “basic” enemies will constantly make you wonder whether or not you can ever really master what this game throws at you. 

Like Dark Souls, Vagrant Story’s difficulty is very much part of what makes the game work as well as it does. Appreciating that doesn’t make the game any easier, though. 

9. Heart of Darkness

Never heard of Heart of Darkness? I’m not surprised. Even for its time, this was a relatively obscure title that is now fondly remembered for its visuals, excellent story, and interesting gameplay. Mostly, though, Heart of Darkness is remembered for its nearly unrivaled difficulty spikes.  

In fact, Heart of Darkness could give Driver a run for its money in the battle between games with the most absurdly difficult opening levels. Enemies swarm you in this opening section like you’re playing a bullet hell shooter, but the game controls like a particularly clunky FMV puzzler. Even if you know what you’re doing, it’s incredibly difficult to respond to the on-screen action in time. 

Things get slightly better from there, but I’d still say that most gamers will not have the patience for this game’s labyrinth levels, bewildering puzzles, and often painful controls. 

8. Blasto

To be fair to Blasto, this PS1 action game was probably released a generation before technology could properly support it. In another timeline, it might have turned out to be as good as the first Ratchet and Clank game. To be even fairer to Blasto, it starred the late Phil Hartman who always went above and beyond for everything he did, including the voice work for this game. 

With all of that out of the way, let’s focus on Blasto’s real reputation as one of the PS1’s most reliable sources of broken controllers. It’s bad enough that this game’s slow movements and dodgy camera make even basic sections challenging, but the fact that many levels have no barriers to speak of means you spend most of your time falling to your death while trying to complete even simple jumps. 

This is a truly painful gaming experience that snared many unsuspecting gamers with its charm and front-loaded good ideas. 

Read more

Games

15 Hardest Sega Genesis Games of All-Time

By Matthew Byrd

Games

15 Hardest SNES Games of All-Time

By Matthew Byrd

7. Einhander

While not the most difficult 2D shoot ‘em up ever made, Einhander was high-profile enough to lure in many early PS1 adopters who were completely unprepared for its retro difficulty level. 

Rather than throw as many enemies at you as possible and call it a day, Einhander increases the health pool of the average enemy while requiring you to navigate some truly devastating death zones. The impact of that design decision really comes thorugh in the game’s boss fights which task you with taking down massive foes who employ complex and shifting attack strategies. 

This is a truly great game that stands the test of time, but don’t let its looks and sounds convince you that Einhander is anything less than a classic example of “NES hard.” 

6. Irritating Stick

Yes, the game’s title gives its difficulty level away, but to truly appreciate how frustrating Irritating Stick is, you’ve got to play it for yourself. 

Irritating Stick is like a blend of Super Monkey Ball and the board game Operation. It requires you to guide a small ball through a series of themed mazes that leave you almost no room to safely maneuver. To make matters worse, you have to race against a constantly ticking clock that’s absurd restrictions essentially require you to truly master this game within a few levels. Of course, true mastery may not be possible for most players as each level seems to add a new wrinkle that makes you wonder how you will ever get through in time. 

Oh, and I have to give a special shout-out to the game’s announcer who screams “Watch out, you’re too close to the edge!” whenever you’re near the game’s barriers. Yes, I know I’m too close to the edge, now kindly leave me the **** alone. 

5. Incredible Crisis

Remember that scene in Metal Gear Solid when you had to mash the Circle button to survive the torture device until it felt like your wrist was going to break? Well, imagine that scene stretched out across most of a full game. That’s Incredible Crisis. 

Incredible Crisis is a collection of eclectic minigames that often require you to mash buttons as fast as humanly possible. Actually, I take that back. No human can be expected to survive this gauntlet of finger destroying terror. Oh, and if a minigame doesn’t require you to furiously mash buttons, that means it’s only going to destroy you in some other strange way. 

The bizarre set of skills required to beat this game means that it may even frustrate gamers who otherwise seek such challenges.

4. Tomb Raider 3

Yes, the first two Tomb Raider games are difficult. However, part of their challenge (especially today) stems from their ambitious design which was often ahead of what you could reasonably expect from video game technology at the time. 

Tomb Raider 3 is on a different (difficulty) level, though. Even if the game didn’t add a ridiculous number of spikes, boulders, pits, and traps waiting to end your run before you know they’re there, its bewildering level design that tried to recreate the experience of having no idea what you’re doing in the middle of a dark tomb has broken even diehard series fans. 

Despite its better moments and incredible pedigree, it’s genuinely hard to recommend this game to anyone but masochists. I genuinely don’t know if it’s possible to beat this game without a strategy guide or walkthrough. 

3. Nightmare Creatures

There’s a degree to which early PlayStation games were fundamentally unprepared to handle the challenges of 3D action/adventure game design. That means that any additional difficulties added to that underlying level of challenge make some games of that era nearly impossible to properly play today. 

I guess that’s just my way of saying that Nightmare Creatures is indeed the nightmare it bills itself as. What would already be a challenging romp through a hellish world of monsters is made that much worse by the presence of an adrenaline system that effectively serves as a time limit and forces you to kill enemies as quickly as possible despite often being unprepared for them in every conceivable way.

Some games throw you into the water to teach you how to swim. Nightmare Creatures holds your head under the water as you lean because it fundamentally doesn’t want you to succeed.

2. Tenchu: Stealth Assassins

The “fall” of the stealth genre from mainstream gaming in recent years has long disappointed genre fans who rank such games among their favorites of all-time. Yet, it has to be acknowledged that even the best stealth games were often difficult in a way that could immediately dissuade even tested gamers. 

While difficulty is a given in many stealth titles, Tenchu sometimes abuses the privilege by going out of your way to remind you that you are weak. Maybe it’s because many of us were just excited to play a game where we were a badass ninja assassin, but the way that Tenchu required you to play it safe and employ trial-and-error tactics to survive its various challenges left many burying their hands in their face as they tried to understand what they were doing wrong. 

Even after you appreciated Tenchu for what it was and even discovered what the game expected of you, it always found a way to force you to make that little mistake that would instantly end a run. 

1. King’s Field

Is it cliche to name a game from eventual Dark Souls developer FromSoftware as the hardest PS1 title ever? For the sake of argument, let’s say it is. That doesn’t change the fact that even Dark Souls veterans will find themselves surprised by how difficult this game truly is. 

King’s Field was pretty revolutionary for its time, which means that many gamers simply didn’t know what they were supposed to be doing when they booted up this title. What the most patient PS1 gamers discovered, though, is that King’s Field is basically a rough draft of Dark Souls combined with an especially difficult dungeon crawler. Even if the game’s ambitious 3D visuals and the jank they produce didn’t create additional challenges, this title’s brutal combat, a parade of traps, confounding controls, deliberately slow pace, and complete lack of direction even made hardcore PC RPG fans wonder what this game was and why it hated them so much.

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King’s Field doesn’t hate you, but it’s a testament to what the game was going for that it’s both clearly an early look at the next 25 years of gaming and a title that will likely still challenge generations to come.

The post 15 Hardest PlayStation One Games of All-Time appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[vannahfanfics]

So Many Things

Category: General Fluff

Fandom: Atlantis- The Lost Empire

Characters: Kida

Kida’s toes kissed the mirror-smooth surface of the pond, causing little ripples to appear in the otherwise flat sheet of water with every tiny movement of her body. The dampness of the algae-coated rock seeped into the thick fabric of her clothes, keeping her body pleasantly cool as the humidity of the dense jungle trapped the volcanic heat in the artificial atmosphere. Her fingers hugged the stone edge of the cleft overlooking the idyllic cove nestled within the network of broad-leaved ferns and twisting green trees hugging the circumference of the lost city. Kida breathed in the fresh air, then sighed deeply. Blue eyes sad, she turned her face upward towards the vast stone dome that separated their city from the outside world. 

[Matim,] she mourned quietly. So many thousands of years it had been, and yet, Kida missed her mother just as much as the day she had been swallowed by the light. Kida’s father had never explained what had occurred, at least no further than the ancestors had chosen her mother to protect their people from the great cataclysm. Kida supposed that she ought to consider it an owner on her mother’s part, to be fused with the spirit energy of her ancestors to see Atlantis through the greatest catastrophe of their lifetimes. Yet, the bitter child locked away inside the princess could not help but feel that she was robbed. 

Kida exhaled again, hand curling over her heart. She always wondered if her mother could see her. Would she be proud of her? Kida dearly hoped so. She had strived endlessly to serve her people and bear the burden of royalty both proudly and properly. Yet, Kida knew in her heart that she was still painfully naïve and ignorant of many things. 

Kida clicked her tongue against her front teeth as her eyes bored into the distant stone ceiling. So long it had been since they had seen the world above, so many thousands upon thousands of years. Kida wondered what had become of the planet. Did the great flood obliterate the entire world, transforming it into an endless ocean? Were the Atlanteans, secluded deep beneath the ocean bedrock, the only living creatures sequestered to land? Or had the human race evolved into something unrecognizable and strange? Kida wondered this, among many things pertaining to the world above the stone, quite often. Her young, spirited heart, despite how much she loved Atlantis and her people, craved the unknown. That was why Kida pushed the borders of patrols to their absolute limits, creeping forward day by day despite the hesitations of the other members of the guard. One day, Kida hoped, some strange miracle would be discovered on those ventures, something foreign and exciting and new. 

[Is that selfish?] she asked aloud, though she knew her long-lost mother couldn’t answer. The Atlantean words dripped sorrowfully from her tongue in place of the mournful tears she could no longer shed. [I know that your sacrifice saved us from extinction, but…] She chewed on the inside of her cheek as she contemplated aloud. [I cannot help but admit this endless existence bores me.] Was that normal, to find complacency stifling? For her spirit to wither on the repetitive ins and outs of immortal life thriving away from the rest of the earth? In her heart, she felt that it was not so, but she still couldn’t help but feel guilty for entertaining such thoughts. Her father would surely remind her that their people are alive and thriving because of the secrecy, and searching for adventure or outsiders could only invite ruin. 

And yet… Kida gazed longingly at the mist wafting through the stalactites clinging to the cavern roof, pretending that they were instead the white, fluffy clouds she vaguely remembered meandering across the clear blue sky. She had always wondered if they were like mist, incorporeal with water droplets bursting against her skin as she waded through it, or actually of solid form, soft and yielding. She’d never know now. With a small groan, Kida pushed her cheek into her hand. She’d gone and depressed herself. She tore her eyes away from the stone heavens to focus instead on the pond, trying to cheer herself up by observing a frog on a lily pad. It licked its glassy black-and-yellow eye, croaked, and leaped into the water to vanish from sight. Kida tutted, thinking it only par for the course for how the day was progressing. 

The gentle rustling of ferns captured Kida’s attention. She turned to see a few of the other Atlantean guards pressing through the jungle, holding their elongated, wood-carved, grass-frond-covered masks at their sides.

[Princess,] one of them addressed her with a polite dip of his head. He gestured with his spear into the tangles of ferns and vines and bushes. [We are going to patrol the perimeter. Would you like to join us?] Kida nodded in affirmation and stood, retrieving her own spear and throwing her mask over her face. She tromped past them to lead the patrol party into the denseness of the jungle, trekking confidently over thin, well-worn intertwined paths to the edge of the city. With every step she took, the distant cascading of several waterfalls grew in volume, until it filled the air with a consistent, steady gushing. They strode along one of the many rivers carving through the jungle to the edge of their world, where the water would spill over the precipice to cascade down into the dizzying chasm to disappear into the thick sheet of water vapor. 

Kida’s sure feet expertly navigated over the protruding tree roots, checking the edge of the void for any signs of concerning erosion. The watery atmosphere slowly ate away at the rock, chipping it away in small places. In several instances, large chunks of the landscape had just caved in, sliding into the abyss to leave a gaping hole, like a giant had taken a bite out of the platformed city. The Atlanteans had reinforced the edges of the chasm with concrete, but even that was only temporary; as time pressed on, the water wormed its way into the pores to spread cracks and fissures across the light gray stone constructs. 

Thankfully, Kida didn’t note any alarming progression of the erosion. They tracked a swift, purposeful path to what used to be the entrance of their city, which was now a collection of large stony steppes budded with large ferns and a few small shrubby trees. Kida froze when a strange noise greeted her ears, and she quickly raised a hand to order the small scouting party to stop. Kida narrowed her eyes behind the mask when she recognized the sounds as distinctly human. 

[But how can that be?] She wondered aloud, crawly forward on all fours to lower a broad purple leaf. Several yards away, a medium-sized group of very distinct people were talking animatedly about something. Kida found herself drawn to the skinny, gangly young man with orange-brown hair and spectacles framing his eyes. Kida cocked her head to the side slightly as she regarded him, strangely fascinated by him. 

Kida jumped slightly as her fellow Atlanteans crouched down beside her and whispered feverishly, asking her what she intended to do. As fascinating as the newcomers- the answers to her prayers, really- were, she had to apprehend them before they could get into too much trouble in this new and strange land. Kida instructed the group as to how to proceed, and then, in a flash, they had the strangers surrounded. 

[Who are you strangers and where did you come from?] she demanded while brandishing her spear, pouring more malice into her tone than she felt. 

Someone shoved the skinny boy forward. He fumbled with a small, leather-bound journal and stammered a few incoherent words. Kida cocked her head slightly, watching as he struggled to regain his composure before clearing his throat. Kida’s eyes blew wide behind the carved wood as he timidly uttered a few broken phrases in Atlantean. 

[Who... are you strangers and where... do you come from?] 

[He speaks our language?] She wondered incredulously, eyes widening behind the mask. How would a surface-dweller have any knowledge of their ancient, lost culture? The man jerked and flipped open the book to hastily flip through the pages, stumbling over his words. Kida slowly lowered her spear, growing increasingly intrigued. A few enunciations and pronunciations were off, but she could largely understand what he was saying. Making a hasty decision, she removed her mask, watching as the man’s eyes widened and a blush blossomed on his cheeks. 

[Your manner of speech is strange to me,] she told him with a curious look. The man grabbed his forehead as he struggled to retrieve the proper words, hand whirling in unconscious gestures as he forced out, [I… travel… friend!] Kida repeated his words softly, a bit confused as she struggled to understand him. Inhaling deeply, he suddenly crossed his arms and flashed her a smile. He suddenly switched to a strange dialect, yet one Kida could understand perfectly. 

[So, my friend, I am a traveler!] He clarified with raised eyebrows.

[You speak the language of the Romans!] she realized with an almost accusatory look, fascinated by the sudden switch. Grinning now that he was finally getting somewhere, he keened while leaning forward, “Parlez-vous français?” Kida smiled amusedly and agreed with an impressed, “Oui, monsieur!” The others standing behind the linguist watched with various degrees of shock and confusion as the two communicated. Finally, the man exhaled satisfactorily. 

“We’re friendly travelers,” he explained with a hand splayed graciously over his small chest. “We’ve come from the surface world.” Behind her, her guards exchanged galvanized but concerned whispers. Kida ignored them, enthralled at the golden opportunity she’d literally stumbled upon. I can finally learn everything about the surface world! She thought, automatically switching to English as the group began introducing themselves. By matter of protocol, Kida would have to deliver them to her father, the King; she would take all the time she had to squeeze as much information as she could out of them. 

“Come with me,” she addressed them with a smile. “I will take you to my home. Please, follow us,” she said, gesturing into the brush with her spear. The others led the way, while Kida fell in step with them at a small distance, absorbing the peculiarities of their persons with bright, glimmering blue eyes. 

Matim, she thought with a quick glance up at the dome. There are so many things I have yet to learn, but… I think after today, I shall be a little less ignorant, no?

Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to peruse my Table of Contents!

Tag List: @deliathedork​

[weaselle]

“So, my gf is new to her...polyiness (?) Tips on helping her navigate?”

Yes! This is going to be a little long, because it’s a bit “explain poly for beginners” but I’d love to, so here we go. First, thanks for giving me permission to answer your question more publicly, where it might be of interest/help to others :) Now, for YOU, I would recommend letting her lead. Since she’s new to it (but the implication is you are not) don’t push her to do or be anything specific, let her go where and when she’s comfortable. This could be tricky, as I don’t know if you have other partners already, how long the two of you have been together, how experienced in non-poly relationships she is, etc. That said, I’ll put down some stuff that helped me early on, that your GF might find helpful as well. Okay, so, everybody is different, but for me what has been extremely helpful is 1: having a base concept 2: finding comparable overlap in other kinds of relationships 3: being extremely honest about negative feelings within yourself 4: being extremely open to working within your partner(s) feelings and                    parameters (this last one is a good reminder for you as well, OP) 1: base concept when I was 16 and 17 and considering love, I wanted to find my soulmate etc etc. But I also had all these fantasies/life goals of having a lot of sexy adventures with various people throughout my life. How sad would it be if I actually did find my soulmate at 18, I thought, it would mean saying no to all that other stuff. And then I thought, but it would be sad for my partner too! Surely they also had many similar fantasies and desires - if I really loved them, I would never want to be the reason they couldn’t have as fulfilled a life as possible. Now of course, I have a much more personal and nuanced base concept I work off, but it’s still formed around that initial thought: if I really care for someone, I want them to be free to experience everything that makes them happy. I dated someone who’s concept included “it’s unfair to expect a single other person to be all the things I need” and I still think about that often, too. 2: comparable overlap in other relationships You can have several close friends, right? Remember how figuring out the “best friend” thing was weird in like, 5th or 7th grade or whatever? There were likely even some fights or fallings out over it? That’s all the same kind of jealousies and stuff you’ll deal with in a poly relationship. And hey! you learned to deal with all of that so well in friendships that it’s second nature to you now, right? Also, your partners are going to go out on dates and have sex with other partners (though oddly, for me, it’s the quiet study sessions together and things like that which have the potential to bother me more than the sex). It can be helpful to put that in the perspective of other situations. For instance, if I have a close friend, and they go to a concert with some other close friend of theirs and don’t invite me even though I like that band, I don’t get mad at them or upset or too jealous or anything... but also, I don’t necessarily enjoy hearing them talk about what a great time they had at the concert.  It’s similar with my partners and dates. I don’t need them to never talk about their other partners, but also, I don’t really need to hear details about their good times. This is helpful both for examining the way I feel about things, as well as communicating it in a way that is intrinsically understandable for my partners, and allows us to create boundaries without needing letter-of-the-law rules. 3: Be extremely honest about negative feelings within yourself. Being honest about your negative feelings is a must. My current partner is dating a woman who is a professional dominatrix, and THAT lady is married, and my partner used to date both of them simultaneously. But there were jealousy issues among them that made it not work out well; all parties are experienced in navigating these relationships, and the solution for them was that my partner no longer dates the husband (this was all before I entered the picture) When I was first in poly relationships, I discovered that it wasn’t the sex that made me jealous, it was the socio-emotional closeness. Turns out my jealousies center around a not-necessarily-healthy need to be loved THE MOST. For a long time, I dealt with this by having a Primary Partner, wherein it can be acceptable to insist on being the most important. If I was not honest about how I felt, I wouldn’t have known this was a possible solution.  These days I don’t lean on this concept so much, but I think it can be a real help for navigating trickier aspects of poly relationships, especially for beginners (for example: you have two partners, one is having a significant birthday, and one has their paintings in an art show for the first time... on the same night. If one of them is your Primary partner and you have been very clear about this, then everyone already knows which event you will be attending). 4: be extremely open to working within your partners’ parameters. This one is also a reminder for you, Questioner. The idea is to be willing to explore your own limits of what you can be happy with, while at the same time being willing to observe the boundaries your partner(s) have. Part of this is recognizing and communicating your own boundaries. Part of it is being open to and respectful of your partners needs. This one is pretty straight forward. hope this has been of any use, good luck and have fun!